vintage_systems:tops-10_survival_guide
Table of Contents
TOPS-10 Survival Guide
Introduction
TOPS-10 is an operating system for Digital Equipment Corporation's PDP-10 family of mainframe computers (including the DECsystem-10 and DECSYSTEM-20 product lines). TOPS-10 was originally developed under the name “Monitor” for the PDP-6 computer in 1964. It was renamed “TOPS-10” in 1970. The last release was in 1988.
LCM+L currently has two TOPS-10 systems available on-line:
| Host | Model/Processor | Operating system |
|---|---|---|
| dec-10 | DECSYSTEM-2065 / KL10 | TOPS-10 version 7.04 |
| ki587 | DECsystem-1090 / KI10 | TOPS-10 version 6.03A |
Getting Started
Apply for a user account on one of LCM+L's TOPS-10 systems with the Request a Login form 1). Check the box “Tops-10 v7.04 (DECSYSTEM-2065)” for an account on dec-10. For an account on ki587, write a memo in the box “(Optional) Please describe your interest in these systems:”. After completing and submitting the form, within a few days you will receive e-mail from LCM+L with your project-programmer number (PPN, TOPS-10 user ID) and initial password.
Connect to the system by opening a Secure Shell session with the destination for your host:
| Host | Destination |
|---|---|
| dec-10 | |
| ki587 | |
On ki587, after the log-in message is displayed, press the Enter key once or twice to display the command prompt ..
Enter the LOGIN command to start your session.
Command format: TOPS-10 commands are one to six characters long. At the command prompt ., type the command string or a unique prefix followed by command arguments if any, then press the Enter key to execute the command. In version 7.04 commands are case-insensitive; in version 6.3 all entered command text is automatically converted to upper case.
File name format: TOPS-10 files are identified with a file name from one to six characters long followed by a period (.) and a zero to three character file extension. Many commands allow wildcard characters * (matches any zero or more characters) and ? (matches zero or any one character) in file name arguments to operate multiple files.
Files with standard extensions are given special treatment by some commands.
| Ext. | File contents | Ext. | File contents |
|---|---|---|---|
| ALG | ALGOL language source | EXE | Executable binary program |
| BAS | BASIC language source | FOR | FORTRAN language source |
| BLI | BLISS language source | MAC | MACRO assembly language source |
| CBL | COBOL language source | REL | Relocatable binary file |
Special characters: TOPS-10 recognizes the following special characters to assist with input and output from the system.
| Ctrl-C | Interrupt current program and return to TOPS-10. |
| Backspace Ctrl-H | Delete last input character. (Deleted character is echoed at the end of the input line.) |
| Ctrl-U | Delete current input line. |
| Ctrl-O | Pause/restart terminal output scrolling. |
Command Summary
| Command | Syntax Remarks |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1. | LOGIN - Log-in to your account | LOGIN <PPN> |
| 2. | PASSWOrd - Change your password | PASSWO Not available in version 6.3. |
| 3. | KJOB - Log-out from your account | KJOB In version 6.3, KJOB prompts for how to handle user files. Enter F to save all your files. |
| 4. | MAKE - Create a new file | MAKE <file name> Create <file name> with TECO editor. See Survival TECO. |
| 5. | TECO - Edit an old file | TECO <file> Edit <file> with TECO editor. See Survival TECO. |
| 6. | DIRECTory - List your files | DIRECT [<file>] |
| 7. | TYPE - Show file contents | TYPE <file> |
| 8. | COPY - Copy files | COPY <new file>=<old file> |
| 9. | RENAME - Rename files | RENAME <new name>=<old file> |
| 10. | DELETE - Delete files | DELETE <file> |
| 11. | EXECUTe - Compile and run your program | EXECUT <file> Compiler will be selected based on file name extension. |
| 12. | BASIC - Run BASIC interpreter | R BASIC |
| 13. | SYSTAT - Print system status information | SYSTAT |
| 14. | SEND - Send a message to another user | SEND <line> <message> Look-up the user's <line> in the 'Line#' column of the SYSTAT list. |
Learn more
- DECsystem-10 Getting Started With Timesharing (for TOPS-10 version 6.3)
- DECsystem-10 Operating System Commands (for version 6.3)
- TOPS-10 Operating System Commands Manual (for version 7.04)
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Collections Manager interview; The Living Computers: Museum & Labs: permanent closure in June 2024; making them available over the Internet.
vintage_systems/tops-10_survival_guide.txt · Last modified: 2024/08/10 00:18 by hc9